It's About Time Series

“It’s About Time”

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8; 14-15

The scripture we read this morning was used in a song some years ago by the Byrds called Turn, Turn, turn. To everything there is a season. The writer is Solomon, considered to be one of the wisest of men to ever live. In fact God came to him in a dream when he became King of Israel and said to him, Solomon, ask for whatever you want and I will give it to you. If God said that to you what would you ask for? Solomon’s reply was this Lord, I am only a little child and I do not know how to carry out my job. The people will be serving are too numerous to even count so please give me wisdom.

So God said since you asked for wisdom and not long life or wealth and since you didn’t ask me to take care of your enemies I will do it. I will give you wisdom but I will also give you what you have not asked for-riches and in your lifetime there will be no equal.

Solomon wrote down the book of Proverbs and also wrote down the book of Ecclesiastes. And God carried our His promise.

I think that most of us would agree that when it comes to TIME and Time management most of us would say that we rarely have too much time on our hands. Instead we are pushed on a daily basis to get everything done…. To take care of our “to do” list. To keep all of the plates spinning. If there is any area where we need [GUARDRAILS] it is in the area of TIME. There are 4 things I see here that God has to say about time.

(1) God’s Timing is sovereign. We know that but every one of us, from time to time question his timing. We wonder why God doesn’t answer our prayers when we ask him to. How many of us have ever prayed for something-your prayer went unanswered or it wasn’t answered the way you wanted it or when you wanted it. And we start to wonder about God’s timing. They are hard questions. But I know this. God’s timing is best. In fact, His timing is perfect. It’s sovereign. What does that mean? It means God is in total control. Notice v. 1. There is an (NASB) appointed time for everything. Not most things. Not convenient things. All things. There is an appointed time in God’s timetable for everything. Now it may be obvious but I want to say a few things about His sovereignty. (1) God’s timing and our timing are not the same. He does not view things in the same way as we do so until we learn to see things through God’s eyes we will never understand His timing. (2) We see things one piece at a time. God sees the whole picture. When I was very young we would go down to Main street to stand in 20 degree weather to see the Christmas parade. But I could never really see enough. I was always curious about what was coming next. And so I would look as far as I could down the street so I could see what was coming. But I still could not see as far as I wanted to. God looks at things as though He is on top of the building. You know if you could get up high enough and get an aerial view, you would be able to see what has just passed by and you would see it clearly. You would see what is right in front of you and you would see what is coming and you would see it clearly and you would see it all at one time. What just went by, what’s there and what’s coming. We call that a linear view of time and that is what God has. But we’re always saying you know if I could just have known this was coming I could have been better prepared. God says “I know.” One things we can know about God is that He is never surprised. God’s timing is perfect. It’s sovereign.

(2) God’s timing is sufficient. He says in v. 3… there is a season for every activity under heaven. You may be in a place right now where you are wondering if God is ever going to show up. Your marriage is in trouble. Maybe you’re on the brink of losing your job. Maybe you already have. Maybe your health is declining and you don’t know what the outcome will be. Whatever your difficulty may be I cannot promise you that God’s going to answer your prayer the way you may want Him to but I can promise that you will make it through if you will hold on to Him.